Transfigurations

Welcome to Transfigurations! This blog is intended to serve the orthodox Anglican community and the wider Christian community. We pray that all that is posted here will be faithful to the Scriptures as the inspired word of God, speak the truth in love, edify, bless and transform this local body of Christ, and be an impetus for revival, repentance, prayer and intercession!

Saturday, April 07, 2012

Holy Saturday 2012

O Lord, God of my salvation;I cry out day and night before you.

Let my prayer come before you;incline your ear to my cry! For my soul is full of troubles,and my life draws near to Sheol.I am counted among those who go down to the pit;I am a man who has no strength,like one set loose among the dead,like the slain that lie in the grave,like those whom you remember no more,for they are cut off from your hand.You have put me in the depths of the pit,in the regions dark and deep.Your wrath lies heavy upon me,and you overwhelm me with all your waves.

You have caused my companions to shun me;you have made me a horror to them.I am shut in so that I cannot escape;my eye grows dim through sorrow.Every day I call upon you, O Lord;I spread out my hands to you.Do you work wonders for the dead?Do the departed rise up to praise you? Is your steadfast love declared in the grave,or your faithfulness in Abaddon?Are your wonders known in the darkness,or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?

But I, O Lord, cry to you;in the morning my prayer comes before you.O Lord, why do you cast my soul away?Why do you hide your face from me?Afflicted and close to death from my youth up,I suffer your terrors; I am helpless.Your wrath has swept over me;your dreadful assaults destroy me.They surround me like a flood all day long;they close in on me together.You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me;my companions have become darkness....Psalm 88 image

Friday, April 06, 2012

Good Friday 2012

Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree. — 1 Peter 2:24

The Cross of Jesus is the revelation of God’s judgment on sin. Never tolerate the idea of martyrdom about the Cross of Jesus Christ. The Cross was a superb triumph in which the foundations of hell were shaken. There is nothing more certain in Time or Eternity than what Jesus Christ did on the Cross: He switched the whole of the human race back into a right relationship with God. He made Redemption the basis of human life, that is, He made a way for every son of man to get into communion with God.The Cross did not happen to Jesus: He came on purpose for it. He is "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." The whole meaning of the Incarnation is the Cross. Beware of separating God manifest in the flesh from the Son becoming sin. The Incarnation was for the purpose of Redemption. God became incarnate for the purpose of putting away sin; not for the purpose of Self-realization. The Cross is the centre of Time and of Eternity, the answer to the enigmas of both.

The Cross is not the cross of a man but the Cross of God, and the Cross of God can never be realized in human experience. The Cross is the exhibition of the nature of God, the gateway whereby any individual of the human race can enter into union with God. When we get to the Cross, we do not go through it; we abide in the life to which the Cross is the gateway.

The centre of salvation is the Cross of Jesus, and the reason it is so easy to obtain salvation is because it cost God so much. The Cross is the point where God and sinful man merge with a crash and the way to life is opened – but the crash is on the heart of God. ...Oswald Chambers image

Wednesday, April 04, 2012

Holy Thursday 2012

So great and wonderful was the work that Jesus had to do for the sinner, that nothing less was necessary than that He should give Himself to do that work. So great and wonderful was the love of Jesus towards us, that He actually gave Himself for us and to us. So great and wonderful is the surrender of Jesus, that all that same thing for which He gave Himself can actually and completely come to pass in us. For Jesus, the Holy, the Almighty, has taken it upon Himself to do it: He gave Himself for us...And now the one thing that is necessary is that we should rightly understand and firmly believe this His surrender for us...

When I receive Him, when I believe that He gave Himself to do this for me, I shall certainly experience it. I shall be purified through Him, shall be held fast as His possession, and be filled with zeal and joy to work for Him. ...Andrew Murray image

Cell Phone Location Surveillance: Now at a Police Dept. Near You

by Julian SanchezApril 2, 2012

As TheNew York Times reported this weekend, a series of freedom-of-information requests by the American Civil Liberties Union have confirmed what privacy and surveillance wonks long suspected: The use of cell phones as tracking devices by state and local law enforcement has become extremely common over the past few years, and is often done without the check of a Fourth Amendment search warrant based on probable cause.

More than 200 law enforcement agencies have responded to the ACLU’s request so far, and all but ten acknowledge tracking cell phone location for some purposes. Many do so primarily in emergency situations to locate potential victims of crime or accident, and of those that also make use of location tracking for investigative purpose, several insist that they always obtain a probable cause warrant. But many others either have unclear standards, or rely on subpoenas or court orders based on the low and easily-met standard of “relevance” to an investigation. In effect, they assert the right to put a virtual tracker on citizens—the same conducttheSupreme Court unanimously held to be covered by the Fourth Amendment when a physical tracking device is used—without any need to persuade a judge that a lojacked individual is actually engaged in any criminal conduct.

Perhaps the most troubling revelation, however, is the evidence that at least a handful of law enforcement agencies reported seeking “tower dumps” revealing everyone near a location at a particular time, a form of mass surveillance that can be used to generate a list of potential suspects. the rest

Does God give do-overs?

Colleges skimp on science, spend big on diversity

by Michael Barone
posted April 4, 2012

Excerpt:
On higher education Democrats and many Republicans as well have followed the same course as on public schools: Shovel in more money, in this case in the form of Pell Grants and subsidized student loans.

College and university administrators have been happy to scoop up all the money by rapidly raising tuitions and fees. Higher-ed expenses have been rising much more rapidly than inflation for three decades.

And what has the money been spent on? Some of it presumably goes to professors in the hard sciences and the great scholars who have made American universities the best in the world. Well and good.

But many university administrators have other priorities. The University of California system has been raising tuitions and cutting departments. But, reports John Leo in the invaluable Minding the Campus blog, its San Diego campus found the money to create a new post of "vice chancellor for equity, diversity and inclusion."

That's in addition to what the Manhattan Institute's Heather Mac Donald calls its "already massive diversity apparatus." It takes Mac Donald 103 words just to list the titles of UCSD's diversitycrats.

The money for the new vice chancellorship could have supported two of the three cancer researchers that the campus lost to Rice University in Houston, a private school that apparently takes the strange view that hard science is more important than diversity facilitators. the rest

Tuesday, April 03, 2012

First the liberals and now the Coptic Orthodox Church is withdrawing from the body in charge of re-writing the Constitution. “Influence of Islamic forces is excessive”
04/ 2/2012

Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox Church has announced it is withdrawing from the Constituent Assembly in charge of drafting the new Constitution, claiming that an Islamic dominance in parliament makes the role of Copts “futile”. The decision comes after that of the liberals and Islam’s highest Sunni institution al-Azhar to boycott the constituent commission which is made up of 100 members, demonstrating its failure to represent all the various elements of Egyptian society.

The current Constitution was suspended by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces in February last year, when it took over power following the collapse of the Hosni Mubarak regime. "The Coptic Orthodox Church General Council agreed with the approval of all of the council's 20 members to withdraw from the constitutional assembly... as it found it was pointless for the church to be represented following the comments made by the national forces about the way the assembly was formed," the statement reads.

The Copts who form Egypt’s biggest minority group and account for approximately 10% of the Christian population, have historically had a difficult relationship with the Country’s Muslim majority. Story

Ecce Homo, Ecce Us

My intention with this column was to share some musings on the words of Pontius Pilate as he presented the tortured Jesus—the icon of “extreme humility”—to the crowd: “Ecce homo”; behold the man.

They have become my Holy Week lectio divina, those two words, prompting me again and again to see the people I observe through a broader lens, one that curves through the light-filled wounds of Christ. The tired mother impatiently tugging the hand of the even more tired little girl? Ecce homo: the put-upon Jesus, wondering where he can lay his head. The India-born priest struggling to make the love of God understood in his homily, then continuing with mass? Ecce homo: the Christ, still misunderstood by his own friends, offering a blessing and feeding a multitude. The teenage boy who slinks sullenly into the pew but ends up entering into the mass in a moving way? Ecce homo: Jesus in Gethsemane, preferring the cup to pass yet surrendering to God’s plan.

Ecce homo: Christ enjoying ecstatic welcome as he enters Jerusalem, only to be rejected, scorned, debased, and destroyed just a week later. Ecce all of us, for all of our triumphs contain the threat of annihilation, particularly if we cling to them too dearly, or believe that they will somehow exempt us from the great challenges and crucibles stationed along all of our roads, like so many sinkholes. Grasping too tightly to illusions of our own specialness can render us ill-equipped to withstand a sudden reversal of fortune, but then—if we can find the strength to consent to the unfathomable will of God—ecce homo, again: there is glory beyond our imaginings.

A pretty tidy lectio, no doubt. If all of our musings on Christ and human life could be so straight-forward and consoling, we would call contemplation a cakewalk.

But true contemplation is a challenge; its sweet allures eventually lead us deeper, forcing us to confront ever more difficult ideas, and to struggle through them, always with the goal of conformity to the mind and will of God, as much as it may be known. Full Essayimage

DHS To Grant Illegal Aliens “Unlawful Presence Waivers”

In its quest to implement stealth amnesty, the Obama Administration is working behind the scenes to halt the deportation of certain illegal immigrants by granting them “unlawful presence waivers.”

The new measure would apply to illegal aliens who are relatives of American citizens. Here is how it would work, according to a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announcement posted in today’s Federal Register, the daily journal of the U.S. government; the agency will grant “unlawful presence waivers” to illegal aliens who can prove they have a relative that’s a U.S. citizen.

Currently such aliens must return to their native country and request a waiver of inadmissibility in an existing overseas immigrant visa process. In other words, they must enter the U.S. legally as thousands of foreigners do on a yearly basis. Besides the obvious security issues, changing this would be like rewarding bad behavior in a child. It doesn’t make sense. the rest

This appears to be part of the Obama Administration’s bigger plan to blow off Congress by using its executive powers to grant illegal immigrants backdoor amnesty.

Canada: If You Can’t Beat The Truth, Silence It

Benjamin Bull
Apr 03, 2012

A gut-wrenchingexample of the lengths to which men will go to silence the voices of conscience recently played out in an Ontario Court of Justice. There, Judge S. Ford Clements sentenced pro-life advocate Mary Wagner to 92 more days in jail, on top of the 88 days she’d already spent behind bars, all because she has been walking into the waiting rooms in Canadian abortion clinics and sharing hope with the women who are waiting to have their babies killed.

And the story gets worse. Clements was so outraged by Wagner’s passion for life that he lashed out at her in front of the court:

You don’t get it, do you? What’s the rule of law? You’re required to abide by it … You’ve lost the right as a citizen to be anywhere near an abortion clinic or to speak to an employee.

You’re wrong and your God’s wrong. You have complete contempt … There is a right to (abortion) in this country … You don’t have a right to cause (abortion-seeking women) extra pain and grief the way you do.

Obama Admin Forced to Pay $120K After Targeting Pro-Lifer

The Obama administration has been forced to pay a pro-life advocate it targeted with a lawsuit $120,000 and it has dropped its case against the Florida woman helping women find abortion alternatives.

The administration lost one round of a legal battle it is waging in court against a Florida pro-life advocate — a battle that saw the administration unfairly seek to punish a peaceful sidewalk counselor under a law meant to stop violence and intimidation.

Susan Pine is a sidewalk counselor. She counsels women who are considering abortion and provides help, resources, and support for women who choose life. Without any evidence of wrongdoing, Attorney General Holder accused Pine of obstructing the entrance to an abortion clinic in violation of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (“FACE”). the rest

Sculpture of the unborn child

posted April 3, 2012

On October 28, 2011, in the resort Bardejovské Nova Ves, Slovakia, opened the monument of the unborn child of a young sculptor of this country: Martin Hudáček. The artist is of Banska Bystrica, the center of Slovakia. The inauguration ceremony was attended by the Slovak Minister of Health, MD.Ivan Uhliarik.

The monument not only expresses regret and repentance for mothers who have abortions, but also the forgiveness and love of the unborn child to his mother. The idea of ​​building a monument to the unborn child was a group of young women (Prayer Movement of Mothers), mothers who are aware of the value of every human life and damage you inflict, not only in the irreparable loss of unborn babies, but for the permanent decline in mental health (and sometimes physical) of every woman who decides, driven by different situations, to abort her child.

Monday, April 02, 2012

Rwandan HOB Addresses AMiA Bishops’ Status

I just received this statement via email from the Rwandan House of Bishops

Dear Brothers and Sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ:

Greetings in the precious Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

The House of Bishops met together on March 29, 2012, during which time we seriously and prayerfully considered how to respond to the desire of those in the Anglican Mission in the Americas who wish to disaffiliate from the Province de l’Eglise Anglicane au Rwanda (PEAR). Those AMiA missionary bishops who resigned on December 5, 2011 have maintained their credentials in the Province of Rwanda up until now. However, in a meeting of delegates from PEAR and AMiA in Johannesburg earlier this month, they asked to be “released” from the PEAR.

According to our Provincial Canons, there are only three ways that we may “release”clergy affiliated with us:

1. By transferring them to another jurisdiction within the Anglican Communion;
2. By their voluntary renunciation of orders;
3. By formal ecclesiastical discipline.

Today we wrote to those AMiA missionary bishops who resigned and asked that if they wish to continue in episcopal ministry within another Anglican jurisdiction, that they please inform us of that jurisdiction immediately so that we may translate them appropriately.

For the time being, all remaining AMiA clergy continue to have canonical residence within the PEAR. Any clergy who wish to withdraw their credentials are free to do so in writing. We encourage all North American clergy credentialed in the PEAR to join PEARUSA, which is our missionary district in North America, unanimously erected by our House of Bishops in our today’s meeting.

We pray that you will not be distracted from the higher calling of Jesus’ Great Commission. Preach the good news, love the poor, plant healthy churches, and disciple Christ’s flock.

Like most of America’s historic private universities, Vanderbilt University was founded by Christian believers for the purpose of inculcating Christian beliefs in its students. Vanderbilt was founded in the 1870s by Methodists and later funded largely by New York’s Vanderbilt family. Within a remarkably short period of years, Vanderbilt had forfeited its conservative Methodist roots in order to identify with the emerging secular consensus in American higher education.

As Notre Dame’s James Tunstead Burtchaell explained, Vanderbilt serves as a case study in the secularization of American higher education — a process Burtchaell described as the “disengagement of colleges and universities from their Christian churches.” Just a few decades after its founding, Vanderbilt had transformed itself into a secular university, embarrassed by its Christian founding. As Burtchaell made clear, this was not due to demands for secularization from outside the university. It was accomplished under the direction of liberal Protestants who desperately wanted to identify with the secular elites.

Well, if that was Vanderbilt’s goal, the university has been stunningly successful. It is unlikely that many of Vanderbilt’s students and faculty know anything of the university’s Christian history. If they do, it would be cause for further embarrassment, mixed with relief that the university is now safely in liberal and secular hands. the rest

David French’s most important point is his first — that Vanderbilt’s real agenda is to force any orthodox Christian viewpoint off campus.

A.S. Haley: Truro Church and The Falls Church Appeal; Epiphany Settles

March 31, 2012

Late Friday came word (H/T: Baby Blue) that Truro Church in Virginia (to be joined by The Falls Church) had filed a Notice of Appeal from the January 2012 decision of Judge Bellows awarding all of the Anglican (CANA) parishes’ real and personal property to the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia, as finalized in a judgment just a few weeks ago. (A copy of the Notice of Appeal by The Falls Church is attached to its motion for a stay of judgment, linked in the next paragraph.)

The Notices were accompanied by motions to stay enforcement of the judgment, and to set the amount of the parties’ supersedeas bonds on appeal. Ordinarily when a party appeals from a civil judgment, the party which prevailed below may still execute on the judgment pending the appeal. In the cases of Truro Church and The Falls Church, for instance, the Diocese could still take possession of all their property and bank accounts which Judge Bellows had ordered them to surrender, notwithstanding their having taken appeals.

To prevent having to surrender all of their properties, the two churches have asked Judge Bellows to stay the enforcement of his judgment, pending a final decision on appeal. In such cases, the court may grant a stay only upon condition that the parties post sufficient bonds (called “supersedeas bonds”, because they take the place of the judgment until it becomes final) in such amounts as the court decides. Such bonds are filed with the court clerk in the form either of cash, or of an irrevocable letter of credit in the required amount.

To fix the amount of the bond each appellant will have to post, Judge Bellows will first hear arguments from both sides next April 20. The Diocese will argue for the maximum amount possible – probably, the total fair market value of all of the parish properties, plus their bank accounts and other personal property. That sum would come to many millions of dollars, and the Diocese’s object in asking for it would be to try to impoverish the parishes so that they did not have sufficient funds to pay their attorneys. (The Diocese did not stint on making such punitive requests of the court earlier, and there is no reason to expect it to act any differently now—pace Bishop Johnston.) the rest

When the Archbishop Met the President

Cardinal Dolan thought he heard Barack Obama pledge respect for the Catholic Church's rights of conscience. Then came the contraception coverage mandate.
March 31, 2012

Excerpt:
"I said, 'I've heard you say, first of all, that you have immense regard for the work of the Catholic Church in the United States in health care, education and charity. . . . I have heard you say that you are not going to let the administration do anything to impede that work and . . . that you take the protection of the rights of conscience with the utmost seriousness. . . . Does that accurately sum up our conversation?' [Mr. Obama] said, 'You bet it does.'"

The archbishop asked for permission to relay the message to the other bishops. "You don't have my permission, you've got my request," the president replied.

"So you can imagine the chagrin," Archbishop Dolan continues, "when he called me at the end of January to say that the mandates remain in place and that there would be no substantive change, and that the only thing that he could offer me was that we would have until August. . . . I said, 'Mr. President, I appreciate the call. Are you saying now that we have until August to introduce to you continual concerns that might trigger a substantive mitigation in these mandates?' He said, 'No, the mandates remain. We're more or less giving you this time to find out how you're going to be able to comply.' I said, 'Well, sir, we don't need the [extra time]. I can tell you now we're unable to comply.'"

The administration went ahead and announced the mandate. A public backlash ensued, and the archbishop got another call from the president on Feb. 10. "He said, 'You will be happy to hear religious institutions do not have to pay for this, that the burden will be on insurers.'" Archbishop Dolan asked if the president was seeking his input and was told the modified policy was a fait accompli. The call came at 9:30 a.m. The president announced the purported accommodation at 12:15 p.m. the rest

Iran: The desire for Christianity

According to a U.S. organization, conversion is particularly common among young people, mainly to the Protestant denominations
Marco Tosatti
03/30/2012

In a country ruled by the Ayatollahs - one of the few in the world governed by an Islamic theocracy - religious conversions from the faith of Mohammed to Christianity seem to be occurring at an “explosive” rate, according to the American organization Open Doors USA.

The phenomenon appears to be particularly widespread among the younger generations. One of its manifestations has been confirmed by priests and clergy traveling in the Middle East and the Arabian peninsula – they are contacted in the “extraterritorial” zone of an airport, by young people who want to ask them questions and get in contact with Christian clergy. Conversely - and to a lesser extent - there also appears to be a revival of interest in Zoroastrianism. Unlike Islam, it is viewed and experienced by young people as an Arab element, neither national nor Persian.

This development in Iran particularly involves non-traditional Protestant denominations - a movement of “house churches” that have given rise to “many secret meetings.” The trend has spread nationwide, especially in the big cities. Needless to say, the situation is meeting with maximum opposition from the regime - Iran is ranked at number five on the Open Doors list of the fifty countries considered the worst persecutors of Christians. the rest

Anglican Unscripted Episode 35

posted April 2, 2012

Your Host Kevin and George talk about AMiA (then and now), DEPO in Albany, and the role of the Bishop in the Church. Allan Haley discusses last minute changes in the Virginia Court case and Obamacare's scary week at the US Supreme Court. You can tweet your comments to #AU35 or email us at anglicanunscripted@gmail.com -- and as always we have saved the best for last.

Sunday, April 01, 2012

Am I really what I ought to be?

Am I really what I ought to be? Am I what, in the bottom of my heart, I honestly wish to be? Am I living a life at all like what I myself approve? My secret nature, the true complexion of my character, is hidden from all men, and only I know it. Is it such as I should be willing to show? Is my soul at all like what my kindest and most intimate friends believe? Is my heart at all such as I should wish the Searcher of Hearts to judge me by?

Is every year adding to my devotion, to my unselfishness, to my conscientiousness, to my freedom from the hypocrisy of seeming so much better than I am? When I compare myself with last year, am I more ready to surrender myself at the call of duty? am I more alive to the commands of conscience? have I shaken off my besetting sins?" These are the questions which this season of Lent ought to find us putting fairly and honestly to our hearts. ...Frederick Temple image

Polish church's survival an underdog tale

Parishioners' tenacity triumphs as church reopens on Sunday
By Paul Grondahl
Saturday, March 31, 2012

Excerpt:
St. Stan's is an underdog's tale.

On Sunday, working-class parishioners who battled the powerful Diocese of Springfield and overturned its closure decree on appeal to the Vatican will carry palms fashioned into crosses. They will enter the church in a joyous procession as part of the Roman Catholic feast day that marks the triumphant entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem. They will usher in Holy Week, the most important clutch of days on the Christian calendar, which culminates in Christ's crucifixion on Good Friday and resurrection on Easter.

Palm Sunday's spiritual symbolism is rich, but the secular backstory to this tenacious bunch of Polish-American septuagenarians and octogenarians who won a hard-fought victory to save their church is every bit as poignant.

As the months and years of their around-the-clock vigil inside the church ground on, four of their stalwart members died from complications of old age. They mourned the losses and prayed for the repose of their souls. Yet they refused to surrender their beloved church. the rest

She drafted a nephew, 66-year-old Joseph Rysz, a burly retired state forester who took the overnight shift and camped out in a sleeping bag for three years.

"This was the most meaningful thing I've done," Rysz said. "I came to believe in divine mercy. It all finally made sense to me once I put my faith and trust in Jesus."

Another $17 trillion surprise found in Obamacare

Senate Republican staffers continue to look though the 2010 health care reform law to see what’s in it, and their latest discovery is a massive $17 trillion funding gap.

“The more we learn about the bill, the more we learn it is even more unaffordable than was suspected,” said Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, the Republicans’ budget chief in the Senate.

“The bill has to be removed from the books because we don’t have the money,” he said.

The hidden shortfall between new spending and new taxes was revealed just after Supreme Court justices grilled the law’s supporters about its compliance with the Constitution’s limits on government activity. If the court doesn’t strike down the law, it will force taxpayers to find another $17 trillion to pay for the increased spending. the rest

An escalating wave of sacrilegious thefts of wafers strikes across Italy

The Archbishop of Monreale encourages parishes to lock up the Eucharist, with a green light from the Holy See
Giacomo Galeazzi
Vatican City
3/28/12

Excerpt:
Every case seems to go according to the same script, with the underlying signature of followers of the occult: sacristies cracked open by the tools of thieves, the theft of containers of hosts, tabernacles split in two. There have been pyxes stolen from the parish of St. John Bosco in Vasto, goblets with wafers that disappeared from the church of St. Vito in Paestum; wafers removed from the hospital chapel of Biancavilla (Catania), and a night raid on the parish of St. Catherine on the Ionian Sea (Catanzaro). Also targeted by the sacrilegious thieves was the sanctuary of the Madonna delle Grazie in Monza, and other places of worship in the diocese of Milan in Bereggio and Lentate sul Seveso. And their work was seen again at the Santissimo Nome di Maria in Fornaci Vecchia (Lucca), the church of St. Franca at Piacenza, and the Black Madonna of Monte Nero at Sant’Antonio di Gallura. They have attacked the diocese of Monreale with a particular fury, with four incidents within the last three months (Villagrazia Carini, Terrasini, Cinisi, Partinico).

From north to south, an unbroken chain of profanity is evidence of the boom of Satanist groups, recently discussed in a law enforcement report, powered by the Internet jungle drum. At Santa Croce sull’Arno at Montegranaro, near Ascoli Piceno, the incursions into sacred places have no other purpose than the theft of the wafers, casting the shadow of Satan onto many events in the news. "The Eucharist is the supreme good of the Church - canon 1367 of the Code of Canon Law speaks clearly on the subject," says De Paolis. "It is a crime to steal consecrated items from the tabernacle and to treat them impiously and blasphemously. Thus the protection of the hosts is a priority. If it is necessary to keep them locked up away from the tabernacle, the exceptional danger justifies an ‘ad hoc’ measure as a defensive reaction." the rest